Tag Archives: Balboa Park

Among my fondest memories as a child are family visits to the zoo.  I was fascinated by it all!  The sights, the sounds, the smells, the people, and especially by the exotic animals.  It seemed a grand adventure and I think may have helped germinate the traveler seed in me — I wanted to see these animals in the places they’d come from.

I’ve since visited many of these animals in their homelands over the years, and as I’ve grown older my perspectives on zoos have changed somewhat, especially after seeing some terrible ones in poorer nations where animals are kept in little more than small square cages (prisons really).  I’ve developed a great empathy for these captive animals and believe …

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